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III. Where Does Science Come From? Poe’s Poet-Mathematician: Evariste Galois by David Shavin Poe’s Dupin: “As poet and determined from the overall di- mathematician, he would rection discovered by the geo- reason well; as mere mathe- metric overview. It was this matician, he could not have grand manner of considering the reasoned at all.” shapes of nature, which was dis- Poe’s Narrator to Dupin: covered by the students of “You have a quarrel on hand, Monge . .”1 I see,” said I, “with some of the algebraists of Paris . .” I. Dupin, Poe’s Poet- Mathematician Charles Dupin (1819) on Descriptive Geometry Aug. 20—In 1841, Edgar Allan On the “general and purely Poe created the fictional charac- rational geometry, of which de- ter, the poet mathematician C. scriptive geometry is only the Auguste Dupin. He first appears graphic translation . one’s in “The Murders in the Rue mind must be especially trained Morgue” (MRM), in which his in this general geometry. One “descriptive geometry” method must be able to represent the succeeds in solving the crime, shapes of bodies in space, and to Evariste Galois while the detailed and exhaus- ideally combine these shapes by tive methods of Police Prefect the sole power of imagination. The mind learns to see G____ prove hopeless. In the previous year, 1840, Pre- inwardly and with perfect clarity the individual lines fect G____, that is, the Police Prefect of Paris, Henri and surfaces, and families of lines and surfaces; it ac- Louis Gisquet, had issued his Memoires, which in- quires a feeling for the character of these families and cluded a curious dismissal of the violent death of Eva- individuals; it learns to see them, combine them, and riste Galois, one of the poet-mathematician students of foresee the results of their intersections and of their Gauss’ epic, Disquisitiones Arithmeticae.2 The case is more or less intimate contacts, etc. Thus the new geom- made here that Poe’s poet-mathematician, in real life, etry greatly strengthens the imagination; it teaches you was Galois, and further, that Poe’s Dupin would secure how to grasp a vast collection of shapes quickly and justice for Galois. precisely, to judge their similarities and differences and their relations of size and position . .” For example, re- 1. Charles Dupin, 1819, “Historical Essay on the Contributions and garding designing roads or railways through the coun- Scientific Works of Gaspard Monge,” translated by Larry Hecht. tryside, “. engineering drawings are needed only for 2. “The Generation of ‘Poet-Mathematicians’: The Case of Niels limited areas in which the best route to follow is easily Abel,” by David Shavin, EIR, Vol. 44, Issue 30, July 28, 2017. September 1, 2017 EIR Wake Up Call from Houston 47 First, we look at Poe’s characterization of the particular genius of Dupin. In MRM, the first of Poe’s three “Dupin” tales, Poe challenges the reader with his Narrator’s (N’s) description of Dupin’s unique method of analysis. After walking together in silence for a quarter-hour, Dupin casu- ally reads N’s mind with a line that seems to come from nowhere—that the actor Chantilly is indeed too short for the role of “Xerxes.” N is dumbstruck. By what power had Dupin divined N’s private thoughts? Dupin explains his chain of reasoning: A stranger had bumped N, causing a brush with a pile of paving stones and discomfort to his ankle. A bit later on, upon encounter- ing some advanced street paving, with “overlapping and riveted blocks,” Dupin noticed that N’s face brightened, and N murmured the word, “stereotomy.” (So, illustration by Frédéric Théodore Lix the art of three-dimensional cutting and C. Auguste Dupin, illustration for The Puloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe. fashioning—an element of descriptive ge- ometry—can improve life, helping to avoid injuries Only then had Dupin dared to articulate: “He is a very from more backward alleyways.) The two of them had little fellow, that’s true, and would do better for the The- shared discussions on stereotomy, so the matter of the atres des Varietes.” properties of constituent parts being developed from What should one make of a power to trace causal the characteristics of the larger dimensionality was a moves of the imagination and of the mind, combined shared thought process. From their recent discussions with a few selected empirical confirmations? Before about both Epicurus and “atomies,” or how the proper- dismissing Dupin’s bold reasoning, consider N’s reflec- ties of the very small come about, the next part of their tion: “There are few persons who have not, at some recent discussions was suggested. period of their lives, amused themselves in retracing the This was, how the ancient Epicurus’ conjectures steps by which particular conclusions of their own were in line with recent astronomical developments, minds have been attained. The occupation is often full that of the nebular cosmogony and the nebula of Orion! of interest; and he who attempts it for the first time is (Poe refers to a Dr. Nichol, a popularizer of John Her- astonished by the apparently illimitable goal.” Is there schel’s work on the organization, beyond the solar any child whose imagination has led him or her, per- system, of galaxies.)3 When N next turned to look up at haps at night before falling asleep, down strange ave- the stars, Dupin felt confirmed in his reasonings. Dupin nues—and who, occasionally, hasn’t asked himself reminded N that they had both read and discussed, in how he arrived at that point in his internal dialogue? the previous day’s newspaper, a reference to Orion, There is a marvelous power to be acquired, though with which was included as part of an attack upon the actor no little difficulty, in training oneself, after allowing the Chantilly. When N smiled and altered his “stooping” imagination to roam, to then retrace the steps, working posture, drawing himself up to full height, Dupin knew backwards. One learns secrets about oneself and, also, that N made the connection from Orion to the diminu- one develops the power of mind, of analysis. Poe’s tive Chantilly playing roles that were too big for him. boldness is that he openly, audaciously, addresses the development of that power. 3. Dr. J.P. Nichol’s 1838 Views of the Architecture of the Heavens fea- In 1842, Poe’s Dupin character reappears in “The tured an engraved plate from Herschel’s telescope, both shocking and Mystery of Marie Roget,” based upon an actual, un- charming the public with a representation of our Milky Way galaxy. solved murder case in New York City. Dupin is further 48 Wake Up Call from Houston EIR September 1, 2017 developed in “The Purloined Letter” (1844). There, a “But is this really the poet?” I asked. “There are crafty minister in the French government has stolen a two brothers, I know; and both have attained reputation document that compromises the Queen, and proceeds in letters. The Minister I believe has written learnedly to blackmail her over policy matters. The minister is on the Differential Calculus. He is a mathematician, waylaid and searched more than once by Gisquet’s and no poet.” minions, to rule out his carrying the document on his “You are mistaken; I know him well; he is both. As person. It is known that the document is in the minis- poet and mathematician, he would reason well; as mere ter’s apartments, a finite area that Gisquet has searched mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all, and inch by inch in excruciating detail. Dupin tells Gisquet thus would have been at the mercy of the Prefect.” that the minister “. is not altogether a fool, and, if not, “You surprise me,” I said, “by these opinions, which must have anticipated these waylayings, as a matter of have been contradicted by the voice of the world. You course.” “Not altogether a fool,” said Gisquet, “but then do not mean to set at naught the well-digested idea of he’s a poet, which I take to be only one remove from a centuries. The mathematical reason has long been re- fool.” “True,” said Dupin, “. although I have been garded as the reason par excellence.” guilty of certain doggerel myself.” Dupin proceeds to “. The mathematicians, I grant you, have done discover the document almost immediately, astonish- their best to promulgate the popular error to which you ing N; and he does so, based primarily upon his analysis allude, and which is none the less an error for its prom- of the minister’s mind. He explains Gisquet’s short- ulgation as truth . [Further, T]hey have insinuated the coming: term ‘analysis’ into application to algebra. The French “This functionary, however, has been thoroughly are the originators of this particular deception. .” mystified; and the remote source of his defeat lies in the “You have a quarrel on hand, I see,” said I, “with supposition that the Minister is a fool, because he has some of the algebraists of Paris . .” acquired renown as a poet. All fools are poets; this the “The great error lies in supposing that even the Prefect feels, and he is merely guilty . in thence infer- truths of what is called pure algebra, are abstract or ring that all poets are fools.” general truths.” with the disorder of the whole structure. It would seem that the ideas are so precious to the author that Poe and Galois he abhors the pain of connecting them with each Compare Poe and Galois.

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